Cursive returns to Kentucky school curriculum

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -Cursive stopped being a mandatory part of Kentucky’s school curriculum in 2010 with the implementation of Common Core.

The writing technique disappeared from some schools, but beginning with the 2025-2026 school year Kentucky Senate Bill 167 has mandated that it be taught once again in all elementary schools in the Commonwealth.

“Here at Potter Gray Elementary School and Bowling Green Independent Schools, cursive writing is a foundational skill that’s taught on a yearly basis to our students currently, and has been for some time,” said Potter Gray Elementary School Principal, Keith Brown. “The fidelity of that may waiver from year to year depending on what’s been going on, what priorities may be, but it’s always been there.”

Potter Gray Elementary officials said cursive provides a number of benefits in early education, which is why they never stopped teaching it locally.

“I think a lot of people think first of the historical benefit, being able to read older documents, but there is research behind cursive writing and how that can improve spelling with letter formation and the dexterity of being able to use those fine motor skills, would help improve those. There is also a correlation between cursive and reading fluency,” said Brown.

For schools that have dropped it from the curriculum over the last 15 years, they will now have to add it back to their teaching programs with a state regulation that requires proficiency by the 5th grade.

“There’s not a huge change for us, but kind of the one thing I think we’ll adjust and we’ll change along the way is just the expectation of proficiency at that 5th grade level, what that looks like. We haven’t been given any guidance yet,” said Brown.

Senate Bill 167 also creates new sections of KRS Chapter 158, which will establish that high school students must be able to demonstrate the ability to sign their name is cursive to graduate and requires all public high schools to offer a course in typing and cursive writing.

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